Instinctive
by Sugarflier
Summary: Humans too often seem to rely on their technology and the other humans round about them. But what if humans had to live on their wits and their physical skills? What if pulling out a gun or calling for help wasn't an option? What if people had to hunt, fight, run and travel in order to survive? Well, this is what.


Instinctive

Chapter One

The Last Of Us

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Author's Note : Pokemon belongs to Nintendo/Game Freak/Whatever, locations and characters and stuff are mine.

I hate having to do that on the first chapter of everything ever.

Anyway, this is a record for me: this is my third attempt at the first chapter of this story. Prehistoric human hunter-gatherer societies in the Pokemon world. Enjoy.

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At sixteen years old, Leaf already had a house of his own. Well, house was stretching it. It was a tiny little treehouse. Just one solitary room. Suspended twenty feet off the ground in one of the tribe's Sherwood trees. They were huge, huge trees with maybe a dozen little treehouses in each one. The tribe lived in a cluster of these gigantic trees, building their treehouses in them and eating the delicious fruit that grew on it all year round.

Leaf sat up, yawned and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. The treehouse was small - maybe six feet in every dimension - but Leaf loved it. It had been his home since he was twelve. He ran his fingers over the wooden wall that he was leaning against and felt the lines that he had carved into it. The lines joined to form a picture of an Ursaring - a huge, ferocious bear. Leaf was a very talented artist, but he didn't think so. He just carved the pictures into the walls of his treehouse because he enjoyed it - he didn't actually think they were very good.

He threw off the Ursaring hide blanket that kept him warm during the night and reached around to find his shorts. They were black and grey, made of Mightyena hide. They were also the only item of clothing that he owned. He pulled them on and stood up, even managing to stretch without hitting the ceiling. As much as the treehouses were small, Leaf was smaller. He always had been short, but he was heavily built too.

He crouched and picked up his slingshot. It sat in a little pile of miscellaneous items in the corner. There was his slingshot and a little pouch of stones that he used as ammo. There was his sickle - everyone in the tribe had a sickle, just for use as a general tool. There was a little pouch of nuts - rare, valuable luxuries by the standards of the tribe - that he had collected. He took all of these items and hung them on loops that had been sewn into the waist of his shorts.

These weren't all of the items that Leaf owned, but they were the ones that he took with him.

He walked out of his treehouse and sat on the branch immediately outside. He reached up and pulled a hanging fruit from the tree. It was a green orb, about the size of his fist. It was also one of the major food sources for the tribe. The tribe also went out to gather fruits, nuts, roots and whatever other edible things they could find, and some also went out and hunted game.

Leaf knew all about game. Some members of the tribe hunted, others gathered, a few farmed and some even fished in the little rivers and lakes in the forests, but everyone contributed to the food supply somehow. Leaf was a hunter. The tribe hunted Stantler and Lopunny mostly. There was no shortage of those, but they were also in great demand. Ursaring, Sceptile, Typhlosion, Mightyena and God only knew what else competed for those meals too.

Leaf was up early, though, and had no one to help him. Alone, he could kill a Lopunny if he could sneak up on it, but they were cautious, clever creatures and were somewhat rarer than the more likely to encounter Stantler. Stantler, though, were bigger, bulkier creatures that were harder to kill. He didn't fancy trying to kill one of those alone, so he decided to go for small game.

He walked for a while until he came to a clearing. He need some space around him for this. He took a stone out of the pouch at his waist and held it in one hand. The other hand help a berry that he had found while looking for the clearing. The berry was bigger than the stone, so he pushed the stone inside, concealing it within the berry. Then he threw the berry up in the air once. When it came back down, he caught it. Then he threw it up a second time and caught it a second time. He threw it up a third time and a Swellow shot out from nowhere and snatched the berry out of the air. Then it started choking on the stone inside and promptly fell to the forest floor. Leaf jogged over.

It was dead from the fall by the time he reached it. He didn't even need to put it out of its misery first, he just snatched it up and hung it at his waist.

It was a trick that Leaf had learned on his own. No one else in the tribe knew it, and he planned to keep it that way. He liked knowing something that no one else did, and besides, it meant he was more or less famous in the tribe for bringing back so many birds. Not many people could kill birds. There were a handful of slingshot users in the tribe - of which Leaf was one - as well as some archers, both of which could kill a bird if they got lucky, but they'd miss more often than not. Birds were just too fast and they were more likely to just lose a good stone or an arrow.

He had no more berries and had no real incentive to go and find any more. He would usually try to get two or three smaller birds like Taillow, Pidgey, Spearow or Starly since the older, bigger birds were usually wiser, but he had gotten lucky and got himself a Swellow. That was more than enough. In fact, he thought that it might tear his shorts because it was so heavy, so he took it off and just carried it in one arm instead.

He held his sickle in the other hand. He didn't think he'd need to use it, but he was always safe rather than sorry. If an angry Ursaring went for him, he'd rather have a weapon on him. Not that he could kill one, even armed, but he could maybe injure it and get away if he was lucky enough - hopefully with his Swellow intact.

Then, as he was making his way back to the Cluster - the group of trees that the tribe lived in - he spotted something. A massive, massive bull. A Tauros.

Leaf froze. Tauros were rare, but highly prized game. If he was with a group of hunters or if he was an archer, this would have been the jackpot, but alone? It would just trample him to death. Of course, he could always just escape into the trees and be safe - Leaf, just like everyone else in the tribe - was an accomplished climber - but that would necessitate leaving behind his prized Swellow, which he did not want to do.

The Tauros was eyeing him warily, but not angrily. Leaf figured it just wanted to go on grazing and calmed down a little. He walked slowly, circling around the creature, leaving as much space between them as he could. Things were going well.

Then an arrow hit the bull. It hit the creature's shoulder and it let out an almighty bellow and promptly charged at Leaf, who managed to dive out of the way. He rolled over his shoulder and came to a stop in a crouch, still cradling the Swellow in one arm like a child while his other hand held his sickle.

That had been a bad shot. No one in their right mind would aim for the bull's shoulder. It was pretty much solid muscle and wouldn't do a great deal of damage. The marksman must have been aiming for somewhere else and just made a clumsy shot.

Leaf stayed where he was. He was more or less safe. If the bull turned and made another charge at him, the archer would take another shot at the it and drive it away. But the Tauros didn't even try to go for him again. It just ran away and disappeared into the trees. It was probably getting back to its herd, if it even had one left. The humans in the area had taken down a lot of herds recently, and when they took down a herd, one or two usually escaped.

Leaf turned and looked up at the trees, where the arrow had come from. He had a good idea who had taken the shot even before he looked, and his suspicions were confirmed when she dropped from the tree and approached him.

"Shade," he greeted his best friend, smiling. She didn't return the smile. Shade was a impassive girl. In fact, Shade was the opposite of Leaf in most ways. While Leaf was loud and brash and impulsive, Shade was quiet and calm and calculated. Where others found Leaf friendly and easy to get along with, most people found that Shade was cold and foreign. Even in appearance, they were total opposites. Leaf was short, muscular and tanned, with a shock of wild, rust colored hair while Shade was tall, slim and pale, with waves of long, thick, jet black hair falling half way down her back. Even their eyes were opposites - Leaf had eyes that were such a dark brown that they sometimes appeared black while Shade had eyes so blue they were almost grey.

Yet despite their many differences and few similarities, they had been friends for a long time - and in the tribe, friendship was a very serious vow.

She held a carefully crafted wooden bow in her right hand and brushed some dead leaves from her clothes with the right. She wore clothes made from navy and cream Typhlosion hide, as opposed to Leaf's black and grey Mightyena hide shorts. She wore a skirt around her waist, just a simple draped garment made of one piece of material, and a similar garment that covered her chest as well as a quicker of arrows over her shoulder.

"That was a bad shot," Shade sulked, disappointed with herself. A Tauros was a lot of meat for the tribe.

"Horrendous," Leaf agreed, smirking. Shade just glowered at him. "Frost would have hit his target," he added smugly. Shade was his best friend, but he did enjoy winding her up sometimes.

"That's because Frost's a perfect archer," she snapped. She wasn't wrong, though. Frost was Leaf's younger brother. He was strong, smart, compassionate and amazing at more or less anything he turned his hand to. Leaf never found himself envious of his perfect brother, though, for two main reasons. The first was the a lot was expected of Frost because of what he was capable of - and Leaf did not envy the burden that his brother carried. The second was that he loved his little brother and couldn't bring himself to feel jealous of him. His brother was all that he had left.

"I'm just kidding," he laughed, throwing a friendly arm around Shade's shoulders. If anything, that made her look even less happy. "Let's go back and eat," he suggested, practically dragging shade back to the cluster with him.

She didn't say much on the way back, she just listened. Shade was like that, but Leaf didn't mind it. In fact, he liked it. And Shade liked that he would never shut up - it meant that she didn't feel the pressure of having to talk so much.

Leaf felt sorry for Shade. The only people to really show any interest in her other than Leaf himself were the boys that were interested in using her in a more than friendly way. She refused them all, of course, she wasn't stupid. But Leaf couldn't help but think that it must be empty to have only one person in your life really.

Leaf had a few people. His parents were both gone - his mother had died giving birth to Frost and his father had been killed during a hunting accident - but he still had Frost. He had Shade too, obviously. He was also under he wing of the Tribe leader, Tempest. He had a few other casual acquaintances too, so he was happy.

And eventually, Leaf and Shade reached the cluster again. And, oh, were they surprised.

The people generally stayed up in the trees to avoid any stray predators that might wander through, but everyone was on the ground this time. Everyone was crowding around one little boy, maybe thirteen or so, just four years Leaf's junior.

The only thing was that he was not from the tribe. He did not come from the only known human population. No. He was deathly pale, with a shock of black hair and black, tribal tattoos covering the left side of his face. His right ear had a few rings through it, as did the right side of his bottom lip and his right nostril. He dressed in a tight, black leather vest and a pair of thin, light trousers, both of which were worn and torn badly. Leaf had never seen material such as this before - because it sure as hell wasn't animal hide. The boy had various holsters for weapons on his clothing - there must have been about a dozen - but the only weapon he carried was a large machete. The other weapons that he once carried had all been lost.

And he was still. He was surrounded by strange people. Just a young boy, in a strange place with strange people. So, someone approached him. A man, a hunter. He was a large man, relatively old by the tribe's standards. He held out one hand in front of him - a sign of peace within their tribe.

The young boy shot his fist forward and into the man's throat with almost impossible speed. The hunter hit the ground immediately and all hell broke loose.

Five hunters all rushed the boy at the same time. The boy kicked at one hunter's knee, snapping the leg back and taking him out for the rest of the fight. He screamed and fell, grabbing his ruined leg. He shot his head forward and crushed the nose of another hunter, sending him to the ground as well. A fist came at the boy's head and he ducked, then another one came at his stomach and he sidestepped swiftly. He sent a high kick at the face of another hunter, his shin connecting with the hunter's jaw and knocking him out before he could so much as flinch. He then launched a jab at another hunter that hit him just below his breastbone, eliciting a wheeze and causing him to fall to the floor as well. The last remaining hunter charged him, hoping to bring him down with brute force. The child sidestepped and tripped him, sending him into the dirt.

No one moved. No one wanted to go near that boy. He was a weapon. Never had anyone in the tribe ever seen speed like that, especialy coming from a child. Never had anyone seen a fight such as this before in their lives. This boy was dangerous, and he couldn't have been older than thirteen.

Then Tempest stepped forward. Their tribe leader, Tempest was an older man. He was about forty, with thick, grey hair and a long, brooding face. He was tall - easily over six foot - and built relatively heavily, although he was not huge. He wore brown trousers, fashioned out of Ursaring hide, showing his strength.

You see, in the tribe, one of the rites of passage is the first kill. When a child turns fourteen, they must go out and kill a wild predator so that they can use its skin to craft their very own clothes. The child is usually trained well enough to succeed, but not always.

Leaf, himself, had killed an entire pack of Mightyena. He had intended to only kill the one, but when the rest of the pack showed up he had little choice but to defend himself with nothing but a sickle. He nearly got himself killed, but he was victorious in the end.

Shade had killed a Typhlosion, which usually travel alone. She had shot it in the face with an arrow while it rushed her. Not particularly impressive, but at least it showed she had a lot of common sense.

Tempest, though, had killed a pair of Ursaring. They usually live in families, with an adult male and female and several cubs. He spared the cubs, obviously, but the parents weren't so lucky. He killed them both with a sickle, although he sustained some serious injuries himself. Two Ursaring were more than most people could handle, however, and it earned Tempest enormous respect.

Their tribe leader approached the young boy, hands out, palms facing away from him to try and show him that he meant no harm. The boy took this as a threat anyway and launched a side kick into Tempest's stomach, eliciting a grunt of pain and making him double over.

One punch from Tempest could probably put the much smaller boy out of commission, but five hunters hadn't been able to land a single punch on the boy. There was no reason to believe that Tempest could either.

While Tempest was doubled over, the boy launched a kick up into his face, breaking Tempest's nose. The pain seemed to focus their leader, who threw a quick, solid punch at the young boy who just danced around his fist and launched a shin into Tempest's rib's, nearly causing him to double over again. He then dived at the boy, trying like his predecessor did to utilize his size and strength advantage. The boy tripped him, though, just like he had done to the other hunter. Tempest had anticipated this, though, and rolled when he hit the ground. He came to a stop in a crouch, facing the boy, who was now running at him. And the boy was so sure of his victory that he let his guard down. He pulled one leg back for one final kick and Tempest used that opportunity to land one fast uppercut.

Knockout.

Tempest struggled to his feet, one hand resting on his abdomen, the other trying to staunch the flow of blood from his nose. "Tie that thing up and if anything lets it get loose, it'll be the last thing you ever do," he managed through his pain.


End file.
